Again, PDP Reps caucus demands Buhari’s resignation over insecurity, rues President’s refusal to sign electoral bill

Members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives on Wednesday demanded the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari over the worsening insecurity in the country.

In a statement signed by the caucus leader, Kingsley Chinda, the claimed the country has been seized by hostage-takers and terrorists who now feed fat on the poor and impoverished citizens under Buhari’s watch.

The caucus also berated the President for withholding assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

President Buhari on Monday informed the Senate of his decision to withhold assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, citing several factors for the decision.

In a letter read during the plenary by the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, Buhari said signing the contentious bill into law would have adverse legal, financial, economic, and security consequences on the country.

But the lawmakers insisted that the real reason the President refused to sign the bill was to avoid electronic transmission of election results in Nigeria.

This was the second time the PDP caucus in the lower legislative chamber had demanded President Buhari’s resignation over insecurity.

The lawmakers in December last year asked the President to step down following the killing of more than 50 farmers in rice fields near the village of Zabarmari in Borno State.

READ ALSO: Presidency slams PDP for trivialising Buhari’s achievements

The statement read: “We make bold to remind General Buhari of the saying, of that old Greek General, Chabrias the Athenian, that ‘an army of sheep led by a lion is more feared than an army of lions led by a sheep.

“But, our nation and its people don’t have the luxury of time to wait on General Buhari to transform from the intrepid General who is currently missing in action to the lion that leads from the front, when bandits, terrorists, and kidnappers who have seized our nation by the scruff of the neck are inflicting malevolence on the nation and imposing informal rules on citizens to command obedience to their dictates.

“Time is running out. General Buhari should save our country by waking up from his long slumber or resign now.

“Everywhere we turn, today, our dead are either being prepared for burials by families whose hearts are torn up by grief, or they are being mourned by families who can’t tell where the corpses of their loved ones are or where the killer squads will turn up next.

“Here is the stark truth of the Nigerian condition under Buhari’s ruinous rule: citizens are in a prolonged, severe and intense state of mourning that has kept them stuck in acute anguish, pain, and trauma.

“In his recent remark at the sidelines of the COP-26 Conference in Scotland, United Kingdom, General Buhari boasted.

“We will defeat them, one highway, one rail link- and one job- at a time.” It is over three weeks since the Conference ended, no stone of resistance has been mobilized by the General against bandits, terrorists, and kidnappers.

“In the past one month Nigerians have waited on the President to give assent to the Electoral Reform Bill passed to him by the National Assembly.

“As was postulated in several quarters, he has declined assent to same, using the cost of direct primaries as a decoy. The untold reason for declining is to avoid the electronic transmission of results which will improve the credibility of the electoral system.

“This refusal, though contemplated, has left Nigerians confounded by a President who continues to show utter disdain for the Constitution and the reform of the institutions of the state. Under him, our institutions of state have regressed, to the point that the gains of previous institutions reforms, embarked by our great party while in power have been either lost to his inaction or to his deliberate ploy to leave our country worse than he met it. On this point alone, we are not convinced that he is interested in the reform of the Electoral process.

“A ruling party that cannot conduct its national convention lacks the capacity to implement some of the innovative and people-empowering provisions of the Bill, like the direct party primaries and electronic transmission of results from the units. As an opposition caucus, we will ensure that our members exercise their power under Section 58(5) of the Constitution to veto the President whenever the National Assembly deems it fit to table the issue for discussion.”

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